Things to See & Do in Italy
These are the bases I plan around. How the trains, airports and seasons work is on the travel tips page.
Rome
The ancient centre — the Colosseum, the Forum and the Palatine — is one morning, and it needs a timed ticket booked before you fly. The Vatican Museums and St. Peter’s are a separate morning. Vatican City is its own state, the museums use timed entry, and St. Peter’s expects covered shoulders and knees.
A central base puts the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain and an evening walk in Trastevere within reach on foot.
Florence
Florence is compact. The Uffizi and the Accademia, where Michelangelo’s David stands, both use timed tickets, and both are worth booking before you leave Canada.
The countryside around the city — cypress, hill towns, a long lunch — works better as a day from Florence, or as a few nights in one country place, than as a chain of one-night stays. Siena is the day I would choose first.
Venice
The historic centre has no cars. You walk, or you take a vaporetto. The Grand Canal and the Rialto Bridge are the orientation, and St Mark’s Basilica and the Doge’s Palace are the bookings that sell out, so they go in the calendar with the Colosseum.
Late autumn and winter bring a higher chance of acqua alta, the seasonal high water.
The coast
The Amalfi Coast and the Cinque Terre are the two coasts people ask about, and they do not belong on the same short trip. Both are crowded in summer, and both are fiddly if you try to see them from Rome in a day.
Positano is the usual base on the Amalfi side, reached through Naples. The Cinque Terre villages are linked by train. A car can help on the Amalfi Coast and is a nuisance in the Cinque Terre villages.
Let’s plan your Italy trip
Tell me who is travelling, how long you have, and whether you want cities, a stretch of coast, or a slower countryside chapter. I’ll plan the bases, the trains and the timed tickets worth booking before you fly.
The initial 30-minute consultation is complimentary. The professional research fee is $50 per traveller aged 2 or older, paid before research begins.